Books

Heartbroken? There's a scientific reason why breaking up feels so rotten

5:37pm February 01, 2022

by Terry Gross

Science writer Florence Williams experienced what felt like a brain injury when her husband left her after more than 25 years. Her new book is Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey.

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Author Toni Morrison pictured at Princeton University in New Jersey in October 1993. She is known for her 11 novels, but her single short story has often been forgotten.

Books

Toni Morrison's only short story is available in book form for the first time

3:40pm February 01, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

The late Nobel laureate and novelist was known for her examination of the Black experience. "Recitatif" is about two girls, one Black and one white, but doesn't reveal which is which.

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Books
Arts

'Free Love' puts a '60s spin on a Jane Austen-style novel of manners

1:55pm February 01, 2022

by Maureen Corrigan

Tessa Hadley's sharp new novel centers on a middle-aged wife and mother who falls for a much younger musician. Free Love is a domestic novel that's as eclectic and alive as the times it captures.

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Books
Arts

'Thank You, Mr. Nixon' is a collection written with intelligence, wit and grace

12:42pm February 01, 2022

by Michael Schaub

The tensions that arise between two peoples, especially the ones felt by Chinese Americans, form a throughline in Gish Jen's brilliant new collection.

Books

60 containers fall overboard when ship traveling to New York hit a storm

5:59am February 01, 2022

The ship headed to New York from Taiwan encountered a storm near the Azores on Jan. 15. Among the goods that went overboard were two cookbooks. Their release has been delayed for several months.

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Online sales of Art Spiegelman's graphic novel "Maus" are skyrocketing, and multiple bookstores are giving away free copies to students after a Tennessee school district banned it.

Why a school board's ban on 'Maus' may put the book in the hands of more readers

1:35pm January 31, 2022

by Rachel Treisman

Multiple booksellers are donating copies of the Holocaust graphic novel to students in Tennessee and beyond. Online sales are skyrocketing, too.

Books

In 'Goliath,' only the rich and white can escape to space as the Earth collapses

8:58am January 30, 2022

by Juana Summers

Juana Summers talks to author Tochi Onyebuchi about his new novel, "Goliath," which imagines a futuristic world that is plagued by the same racial and socioeconomic injustices we see today.

Rozi Galambica in her home in Ozd, Hungary. Galambica attends university in the Netherlands.

Hungarian Roma are translating Amanda Gorman; her poetry speaks to their experience

8:08pm January 29, 2022

by Joanna Kakissis

White European translators have hesitated to work on Gorman's poetry because of criticism that their race makes them inappropriate for the job. In Hungary, a marginalized community steps up.

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Illustrator Peter Emmerich says he drew on both research and his own personal memories to draw people like Stephen Sondheim. "I put him in the book wearing what he was wearing when I met him," says Emmerich. "Because, like, I will never forget him in that

Books
Arts

Theater stars spring to life on the pages of 'B is for Broadway'

5:20pm January 29, 2022

by Jeff Lunden

A few years ago, a children's book called A is for Audra celebrated musical theater divas. Its creators have written a new book, B is for Broadway, celebrating theater from auditions to Ziegfeld.

Books

Gish Jen tells stories of the U.S. and China in 'Thank You, Mr. Nixon'

9:38am January 29, 2022

by Scott Simon

Scott Simon talks to writer Gish Jen about her new book of short stories, "Thank You, Mr. Nixon," which deals with cross-cultural understanding — and misunderstanding.

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